The Automaticity of Phonological Processing in Word Recognition
Georgia E. Riches
Institutional affiliation: Swansea University
Student number: 1911705
Course name: Psychology
Instructor name: Dr Playfoot
Assignment due date: 08/12/2021
Word count: 1965
, Abstract
In this study, the automaticity of phonological processing in word recognition was
investigated, using effects of prime relatedness and lexicality. Previous research on word
recognition found requirements of semantic processing and access to memory of letter
patterns (Plaut, 1997; Coltheart et al., 2001), however there is a lack of evidence for
phonological requirements. In this study, a lexical decision task was used on 49 psychology
undergraduates, using related/unrelated and/or real word/pseudo-homophonic primes, with
results showing significant prime-target relatedness and insignificant prime lexicality. We
concluded that pseudo-homophones worked in associative priming despite their lack of
lexicality, indicating automaticity. The findings highlighted pseudo-homophonic importance
in priming as well as the significance of relatedness. Further research is required in word
recognition studies, particularly using participants whose response times would be negatively
affected by bilingualism or language impairments, to deduce how word recognition can be
improved upon.
, The research topic of interest is the phonological processing involved in word
recognition. Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken
human language (Clark et al., 2007). It has previously been found in some models that word
recognition requires semantics (Plaut, 1997), and in other models that it only requires access
to a memory of that letter pattern (Coltheart et al., 2001), however no existing models show
phonological information as required (Coltheart et al., 1979). It could therefore be assumed
that phonology is not accessed unless it’s needed. There is some evidence, however, that
phonology is accessed automatically. Van Orden’s (1987) verification model, whereby
meaning is posited to be accessed through the automatic activation of phonological
information, was supported by Lesch & Pollatsek (1993), as priming was obtained with a
stimulus onset asynchrony of 250 msec. Furthermore, Pattamadilok et al., (2017) found that
phonological processing in reading is supported through two complementary mechanisms;
one which is automatic and another which further fine-tunes the sensitivity of high-level
language areas to the sensory input in a task-dependent manner. In terms of prime lexicality,
Neely et al., (1989) deduced that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a
prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by a relatedness proportion, and a
retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio. The
purpose of our study was to support the growing evidence as shown in the previous research
and lend weight to the argument of phonological automaticity, while deducing the
significance of relatedness and lexicality effects on primes.
A lexical decision task was used for the study, whereby patterns of letters appeared
onscreen, and participants were asked if they formed a real word or non-word, indicating the
recognition of particular words as familiar. We were interested in the reaction time of this
recognition, as this indicated the level of automaticity to the decision. Associative priming
was used to ensure primed lexical decisions were made, eliciting faster responses, proposed
Georgia E. Riches
Institutional affiliation: Swansea University
Student number: 1911705
Course name: Psychology
Instructor name: Dr Playfoot
Assignment due date: 08/12/2021
Word count: 1965
, Abstract
In this study, the automaticity of phonological processing in word recognition was
investigated, using effects of prime relatedness and lexicality. Previous research on word
recognition found requirements of semantic processing and access to memory of letter
patterns (Plaut, 1997; Coltheart et al., 2001), however there is a lack of evidence for
phonological requirements. In this study, a lexical decision task was used on 49 psychology
undergraduates, using related/unrelated and/or real word/pseudo-homophonic primes, with
results showing significant prime-target relatedness and insignificant prime lexicality. We
concluded that pseudo-homophones worked in associative priming despite their lack of
lexicality, indicating automaticity. The findings highlighted pseudo-homophonic importance
in priming as well as the significance of relatedness. Further research is required in word
recognition studies, particularly using participants whose response times would be negatively
affected by bilingualism or language impairments, to deduce how word recognition can be
improved upon.
, The research topic of interest is the phonological processing involved in word
recognition. Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken
human language (Clark et al., 2007). It has previously been found in some models that word
recognition requires semantics (Plaut, 1997), and in other models that it only requires access
to a memory of that letter pattern (Coltheart et al., 2001), however no existing models show
phonological information as required (Coltheart et al., 1979). It could therefore be assumed
that phonology is not accessed unless it’s needed. There is some evidence, however, that
phonology is accessed automatically. Van Orden’s (1987) verification model, whereby
meaning is posited to be accessed through the automatic activation of phonological
information, was supported by Lesch & Pollatsek (1993), as priming was obtained with a
stimulus onset asynchrony of 250 msec. Furthermore, Pattamadilok et al., (2017) found that
phonological processing in reading is supported through two complementary mechanisms;
one which is automatic and another which further fine-tunes the sensitivity of high-level
language areas to the sensory input in a task-dependent manner. In terms of prime lexicality,
Neely et al., (1989) deduced that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a
prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by a relatedness proportion, and a
retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio. The
purpose of our study was to support the growing evidence as shown in the previous research
and lend weight to the argument of phonological automaticity, while deducing the
significance of relatedness and lexicality effects on primes.
A lexical decision task was used for the study, whereby patterns of letters appeared
onscreen, and participants were asked if they formed a real word or non-word, indicating the
recognition of particular words as familiar. We were interested in the reaction time of this
recognition, as this indicated the level of automaticity to the decision. Associative priming
was used to ensure primed lexical decisions were made, eliciting faster responses, proposed
